Charles Bukowski

[Tommy BOO]

Has anyone here read any of his books?
A friend of mine recommended those books for me, so are they worth reading? I know that Bukowski had quite "radical" thoughts and quite a lot of people hated him, but it might just be a good thing actually... so, what do you think, should I go to the library and find one of his books?
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"Tommy Boo has played a pivotal role in my life. I've looked up to him since I was a kid and he has inspired every note of music I have ever written. The man is a fucking genius" -BC

[billycasper]

Finally back from 2 weeks off work, in the sun, remembering how great life is (assisted greatly in this by glastonbury, super furry animals and a huge bag of shrooms - what a combination), working through the messageboard, eventually hoping to add my two cents worth to all the topics I've missed. Here goes the first:

Yes yes yes – if there’s one thing that excites me more than the boos it’s bukowski – I even managed to do my thesis at university predominantly on him (kind of interesting since many of my lecturers/tutors had clearly never heard of him - typical comment: “very interesting, now why don’t you see how this compares to Don DeLilio / Philip Roth/ F Scott Fitzgerald”).

As a starter, just typing charles bukowski into google will find you hundreds of his poems. Otherwise I would recommend in a rough order by genre:

Novels/Stories:
Ham on Rye (I spoke to Martin about Bukowski shortly after completing my thesis, he told me this was his favourite – at least I think he did, but in his typical style he had to describe it because he couldn’t remember the title)
Post Office
Factotum
Women
The Most Beautiful Woman in Town
Hollywood
Notes of A Dirty Old Man

Poetry:
Love is a Dog From Hell
What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire
Septegenarian Stew
In fact, any of them ‘cos each one I’ve seen contains more gems than most other writers achieve in a lifetime

Biography:
Locked in the Arms of A Crazy Life by Howard Souness
Bukowski in Pictures (if you have a strong stomach – he looked a bit rough, some of his women were even worse)

Film:
Barfly (if you can put up with Micky Rourke’s posturing)

While you’re at it, why not try John Fante’s Ask the Dust - the book which got Bukowski into writing, and apparently through life in general?

[darraghh]

He's a grungy old man who rode loads of women drank a lot and lived like avagrant. His poems are pretty cool though.

[Bev]

I recomend 'Run With The Hunted' which is a kinda of book best of, which has both poems and extracts from his novels in...

Personally I think he is good, but possibly over-rated/over-hyped... Worth reading though!

(Richard Brautigan rocks by the way)
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Scattershot Writing: www.jameseverington.blogspot.com

[Dubya - T]

The actual story, The Most Beautiful Woman In Town is one of the most poignant and beautiful stories ever written.

The first time I read it was after a party when I was at Poly in Nottingham. I sat on a balcony drinking Tequila as it started getting light.

That was one of those experiences that you can't get back again.

Read Bukowski, yeah sure he's a grungy old man at times, but he has style. The people in his stories are the kind of people you'd think are losers and yet they have a certain dignity. You realise that they aren't losers They're the sad and the lonely, trying to make some sense of the world anyway they can.
I got into Bukowski from listening to Dogs D'Amour! (you see the Hanoi Rocks connection now Tommy?) If you get the chance, check out "Empty World" by them. More recently I started listening to Tom Waits. I think he is kind of like Bukowski set to music, especially the album Small Change, excellent late at night with a good Bourbon!
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[Tommy BOO]

[Guest]

The singer and songwriter, Tyla, is a huge Bukowski fan so would talk about him in interviews. They also did a song dedicated to him called Bullet Proof Poet. I was intrigued and so got some books and was impressed.
Dogs D'Amour are in the Hanoi Rocks vein but more of a Stones/ Johnny Thunders type thing. They did a song that sounded just like Taxi Driver, though same riff and everything. They reformed a couple of years ago but I've not heard anything since '93 or so.

Another band to mention Bukowski is Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I don't remember the song but it's on Blood Sugar Sex Magik and goes "When I'm on my Porch, I forgot my house key/ I pick up my book and I read Bukowski"

Charles Bukowski also wrote the screenplay for the film "Barfly"(late 1980's I think).
This seems an odd place to be discussing my RAWK roots, but I suppose there's nothing wrong with eclectic tastes.

[CranesAreFlying]

the Barfly DVD just came out recently (for region 1 at least) on DVD.
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[CranesAreFlying]

and Mickey Rourke is in a newish movie called Spun with the kid from Rushmore, brittany murphy, mena suvari, John Leguizamo (who always is a right bastard) and the one and only Deborah Harry. dark comedy about meth fiends. like watching music videos on fast-forward.

and not to kill the thread, i unfortunately don't know much about Bukowski.
but William Burroughs was a crazy bastard. The Soft Machine is about as fucked up as fiction can get.
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"Even I know the solution: love, music, wine and revolution..." (magnetic fields)

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